The title
Quietus refers to a final moment, a finishing point. The exhibition features a
series of funerary works, from cinerary jars to life size sarcophagi, addressing
the containment of the human body after death. Ageing and death is a concept
that binds all humans together. No one is exempt; it is a natural process of
life yet it is held as a social taboo Julian Stair explores what the
British Philosopher Simon Critchley refers to 'as the last great taboo of
modern society'.

The practices surrounding death are often regarded as a difficult
subject in our contemporary secular society; Stair is offering his artistic
response.He has drawn on the historical role that ceramic vessels
have played in rituals surrounding death. I enter the cathedral to the
voices of a choir. You have to walk towards the back of the cathedral to reach
the Stair’s work. The setting of the cathedral immediately sets the tone of the
exhibition and depending on the associations you have with a religious space different
feelings will inevitably be conjured and will determine your initial feelings
entering the exhibition. I thought my initial reaction to the cathedral setting
would heavily influence my perception of Stair’s work. However, although the
work fits perfectly within the space and is very sensitive to its surroundings
it still manages to speak about the universality of death not just a Christian
response.

You are
confronted with a series of large vessels, their height reflecting human scale
and their potential purpose, a very humbling experience. They reference a
tradition known as Extreme Inhumation where the body is buried upright.
They call to mind the body without depicting one, exploring the relationship
between the vessel and the human form. The metaphor of the vessel as
'body' has been evident throughout ceramic history with the descriptive
terminology used; foot, neck, shoulder, lip, waist and belly. The analogy between
the vessel as container and the body as a physical container of the human
spirit further reinforces their connection. I see the vessels as another form
of portraiture. Your thoughts turn to fitting inside each vessel and the space
that they occupy. You have to navigate round each vessel they speak of negative
and positive space, the immense volume and yet also their emptiness an absence.
The external presence they command along with the internal void. The vessels
push out with an energy created from their making space pushing out but with
the dead space pulling you in. The monumental ceramic pieces were made on a
residency at three different brick factories using industrial kilns, yet
still have the artist touch. The clay is left unglazed and raw. You can
see the joins, grog and scrape marks, where the clay oozes out between each
joined layer. The raw brick clay makes you want to feel it’s rough texture and
stand very close to each vessel to inspect its surface, the bubbles, blisters, scrape
marks. You engage closely with each vessel and cannot help but touch the skin
of each sarcophagi. The only details found on the pots are the circular joins
where the slip is rough and oozing out expressing their handmade quality. The
rest of the vessel is left plain contrasting with the ornate, heavily decorated
cathedral. The colours echo the cathedral’s tiles, ochre’s, whites,
creams, black, and terracotta.

Stairs use
of clay underpins this exhibition; the connotations of the raw material,
beautifully crafted vessels and societies daily engagement with this
material. The relationship that humans have to the ceramic vessel form is one
of the most fundamental, from most essential to the most precious we
engage with it on a daily basis and it has been the primary material
throughout human history. His work re-examines familiar historical pottery
and celebrates the cultural and sensory aspects of pottery, how the simple
vessel can express complex ideas and themes. The material, rawness and minimal
lines emphasises the universality and speaks about returning to earth. Where we
came from and where we all will return to. Clay is used as a synonym to death
and a means for considering the life cycle.

You next
encounter horizontal life-size sarcophagi placed along a wide corridor. This
positioning affects your interaction with the pieces. You walk starring
downwards towards them as though you are viewing a passage of time. The light
through the stain glass is dim and peaceful. Creating the optimum pensive
atmosphere and lighting of the raw terracotta clay to give it a softness and
shadow. They lack any decoration or glaze and do not try to compete with
cathedral. The raw, bold, and minimal aesthetic defines them as contemporary symbols.
You reflect on your own mortality. You sense their weight and the depth of the
void. The Minimalistic forms are in the unison with the simplicity of the
subject he is bespeaking. Simplicity is the key word to describe the whole
exhibition as it speaks
about the eternal subject – death, through the symbolic language of ceramics.
At
the same time it conveys opposites; Light/dark Life/death
Presence/absence
negative / positive.

Surrounding
the choir enclosure different shaped vessels look down upon you. They are
reminiscent of Roman statues standing above buildings. They varying in sizes
and shape and tone of clay, a few stand out from the rest in glazed porcelain.
They are simple vessel forms that hold their own against the over whelming
beauty and intricate carvings they reside over.

Stair draws
upon the language of clay and offers an alternative engagement with this
challenging subject. 'He wants to give his audience - habituated to
averting its gaze from death - a chance to look it in the face. The means
he does are matter a fact, solid rather than symbolic.' Glen Adamson. Stair
expresses through clay our most fundamental feelings towards our mortal bodies.
The work engages with the human condition in a tender and thought provoking
way. Death is the one thing that unites everybody, the one thing that is
certain in life. The exhibition is simple in idea and concept yet universal and
profound at the same time. In contemporary Western society, with its borderless
identity, loss of past beliefs and traditions the question of our humanity
is ambivalent. There are no boundaries to the human experience. What was once
thought impossible has now become reality. This exhibition is a reminder
of our mortality, It shatters the quest for eternal youth, our fascination
with material possessions and the cosmetic surgery we turn to, it reminds us
of the only thing that is certain and universal in life. The collection
of Stair's beautiful funerary vessels

confronts our fears of death and our
struggles with mortality. It is a deeply spiritual and brave exhibition. In our
fast pace culture this exhibition provided a meditative space and the luxury of
completive time for me. However, what I want to question is what the cathedral
surroundings added to the work that the gallery space could not. I enjoyed the
works’ simplicity rather than any religious connotations, the power of the
ceramic objects to relate to the body and its mortality. The collection of
Stair's beautiful funerary vessels, confront our fears of death and our
struggles with mortality. It is a poignant exhibition exploring a universal
theme. While marking death, the exhibition also celebrates life. In contemporary
western culture death is hidden, when perhaps one’s life should be celebrated
in mausoleums or on mantels.